EDRINGTON: Fixing spacing issues in Word

Microsoft Word 2007 user Marilyn Wilson wrote that she is having problems with the program's line and paragraph space settings. Although Word 2007 has been around for five years, I hear from many readers who express the same frustration.

Historically, word processors have been programmed to require pressing ENTER twice in order to put a blank line between paragraphs. However, Microsoft (in its seemingly endless crusade to change things just for the sake of change) has programmed Word 2007 and 2010 to double-space paragraphs with just one ENTER.

The program also adds extra white space between lines within a paragraph, often resulting in a 4-page document becoming a 6-page printout.

This can be fixed by clicking "Paragraph" under "Home" and changing "Spacing>After" from "6 pt" to "0 pt" and changing "Line Spacing" from "Multiple" to "Single."

However, this just fixes the current document. To make the Word 2007 line/paragraph settings match previous Word versions, do this:

Now your current and all future Word 2007 documents will have traditional line spacing and will require two ENTERs to put a blank line between paragraphs.

However, some documents may require special line and/or paragraph spacing in order to, for example, fit within some specific page requirements. In Word 2007 these settings can be adjusted under "Home>Paragraph." In older versions of Word click on "Format>Paragraph." Here you can choose the number of points between lines, along with the number of points that will go before and/or after a paragraph.

However, such options only affect a paragraph that is currently highlighted or in which your cursor currently resides. To make the options apply to a whole document click on "Edit>Select All" (or do Ctrl+A).

Normally, I prefer Word's older and less complicated versions, but a feature I like in 2007/2010 is the ability to change the "zoom" size of my text with a sliding bar in the lower right corner of a document's window. This scale enlarges or decreases the text's "view" size ---- but not the print-out size.

A nice feature for writers who are aiming for a certain number of words in a document is the "word count" displayed in the lower left corner. To see how many words are in a particular paragraph (or any other area within a file) just mouse-select it and the count will appear immediately in the same corner.

In all versions of Word, Spell-Check options can be displayed by pressing F7 on your keyboard. Shift-F7 will bring up Word's Thesaurus and F1 will display a Help menu, including a box for typing in a specific question.

Speaking of editing one's typing, Facebook recently added a new feature that lets users edit a comment they just posted. Just point your cursor to the upper-right corner of a posted comment and a tiny "pencil" will appear, which lets you Edit or Delete the text.